What an unimaginative, uninteresting season and casting. I'm glad they're bringing Sylvia back, and I'll be curious to see how they manage Symphony in C, but otherwise there's not a whole lot that piques my interest.

I'm curious about Symphony in C. Others have mentioned Misty Copeland - I bet she gets a shot at 3rd or 4th movement. I'd like to see Cojocaru in the 2nd, but I'm sure that's not to be.

2nd movement usually goes to a tall girl. I'm guessing Part and Semionova, although I think Semionova would work well in the 1st movement. If memory serves, the last time they did Symphony in C at ABT, the 2nd movement went to Kent and Jaffe. I'm wondering if Vishneva is going to be cast in Month or Symphony in C. She is doing very little at ABT this season. 2 Onegins & 1 R&J. It would great if she was the SL TBA, but I seriously doubt that will happen. There are many roles that she no longer does at ABT. She did one performance of Sylvia a few years ago, but never returned to the role. She also did one performance of SB at ABT, and never did that role again at ABT.

What is continually perplexing to me is why Gomes never gets cast as Basilio (he did dance the role with Ananiashvilli years ago, correct?) This role might not be as natural a fit for him as Siegfried and Romeo, but surely he could do a decent job with it (at the very least). Certainly he would be better than Stearns. And especially now that Part is being given the opportunity to dance Kitri, this would be the perfect time to cast Marcelo alongside her. I also see that in the upcoming tour to Spain, Semionova is dancing Don Q with Stearns, when initially she was with Gomes.

Marcelo did dance Basilio in Japan last summer, as a last minute replacement to Angel Corella and he was fantastic in the role, he had the charm and the bravura and in fact this role fit him perfectly.

What is continually perplexing to me is why Gomes never gets cast as Basilio (he did dance the role with Ananiashvilli years ago, correct?) This role might not be as natural a fit for him as Siegfried and Romeo, but surely he could do a decent job with it (at the very least). Certainly he would be better than Stearns. And especially now that Part is being given the opportunity to dance Kitri, this would be the perfect time to cast Marcelo alongside her. I also see that in the upcoming tour to Spain, Semionova is dancing Don Q with Stearns, when initially she was with Gomes.

When I saw that change in casting for the Barcelona engagement, I wondered if it might have something to do with his involvement in Kings of the Dance, which is performing at the Mikhailovsky November 2-3. Perhaps they wanted more rehearsal/prep time or something.http://www.mikhailov...afisha/2012/11/

I saw Marcelo dance Basilio with Gillian out here with Festival Ballet a few years ago and he was more than good. He's not a technical trickery powerhouse, but he has the charm and vigor you want for DQ.

That he is similarly not cast with Part in Swan Lake is baffling as he is not down to dance Siegfried at all (yet). I get that they are probably trying to ration him after the past few years but throwing Cory into every role doesn't seem like the best solution. Performance count for the principal men so far is Stearns 12, Gomes 9, Hallberg 9, Vasiliev 8 (though 4 of those are Ali), Cornejo 7, Bolle 5, Max 0.

I saw Marcelo dance Basilio with Gillian out here with Festival Ballet a few years ago and he was more than good. He's not a technical trickery powerhouse, but he has the charm and vigor you want for DQ.

Dance Channel TV has posted a few nice clips of those performances:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiSzHcaBQv0

I'm looking back at the Met schedules for 2010 and 2011. He did no Don Q's at all in 2011. In 2010, he did just the first act (with Herrera) at the Alonso birthday celebration. Perhaps ABT thinks they have enough strong principal men for the role and Gomes is needed elsewhere. Still, I'd love to see him in the ABT production some day.

You can now check out the prices of the ABT subscriptions on the Met Opera website. It looks like they increased ticket prices again compared to last season. A weeknight prime orchestra is now $110, and a weekend prime orchestra is now $120. Balcony weeknight is $45, weekend is $50.

I think the Sat matinee of SL will be Osipova and Gomes. I also think that Muntagirov may end up as Gillian's partner for SL, since he appeared last season in the ABT Swan Lake. Alternatively, I notice that Dvorovenko's only role this season is Onegin. What's up with that? Maybe they will give her the TBA SL.

It does seem odd that ABT left that casting completely empty. IMO, if they give that SL to Irina, Max has to be ready to partner her since she rarely dances the classics with anyone other than Max. Having seen the two of them do SL in Chicago back in March 2010, I loved it. Irina loves when the spotlight is on her, and Max does a great job showcasing her. Both of them were healthy and there were no visible issues of any kind.

That being said, I saw both of them this past summer leaving the theatre - after Ethan's farewell. Max did not appear to have visible injuries, but he didn't seem to be in "dance-shape" either. This is purely based off my observations as a former dancer and he just appeared so "normal." So who's to know how much dancing he has been doing in terms of classes and rehearsing. Since he pretty much only dances with Irina, I think her limited appearances last season also resulted in his absences from casting/maybe not dancing as much period. However, Irina had me truly concerned. She was frighteningly thin (skinnier than Julie - who on most day I already think is thin even by ballerina standards, but Julie has always been very willowy and her physique matches her style). And while I don't want to speculate, Irina just didn't look healthy enough to do a full-length classical ballet when I walked right past her. She was all skin and bones, and even her face seemed more angular, and was a stark contrast to her appearance in Chicago 2 years prior.

Onto other things, SOOOOO excited for Veronika...now I just need to find a way to NYC again this summer. While I'm still not completely sold on Cory, he's been a principal for long enough that maybe the Stearns/Part pairing will actually pan out this time around. We know that Veronika is a nervous dancer (THRILLED about her SB with Marcelo) and putting her with a partner who is more secure in what he's doing will really help her. Also, having her in a consistent partnership will help them both. Cory is tall, but still slight in frame not nearly as filled-out as one may think. I got a chance to speak with him this past June and he's quite the sweetheart. At Ethan's farewell Cory filled in as a Merchant - can you imagine any other principal stepping in for a corps role?!? - I'm sure a large part of this had to do with the fact hat he was already at the theatre due to him dancing Conrad earlier in the day. But he was just so happy to have another chance to dance/have fun on that stage with his buddies before the season closed - and at Ethan's farewell too! He still has a boyish charm about him, and it'll be interesting to see how his partnership with Veronika translates to the stage this season especially with how imposing regal and imposing she can be.

The casting for MET 2013 is much more diverse than than in previous years, so there are many more opportunities for many dancers! I'll be interested in a few months to see how Kevin/the company chooses to fill those remaining TBA and soloist roles. While I no longer have any expectations for any great castings - let alone promotions - for Stella and Sascha in the future (forever soloists)...They both have the repertoire to step in for a principal or even dance those roles, I do hope that when the time does come, the two of them get their due. (Going to go ahead and put this down, before they leave/retire from the company, I do hope that they dance a full-length classical ballet together as the principals - dare I dream for Giselle? - I hope ABT realizes that money-maker such a casting would be...)